Concerns about disease still high

The threat of chronic wasting disease to deer herds continues to be a
major concern for wildlife managers in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Here's a roundup of
some of the latest developments:

- Wisconsin deer shoot: Wisconsin officials continued killing
deer for testing last week in a south-central area west of Madison
where three deer were found
with chronic wasting disease (CWD).

The Wisconsin DNR wants to test 500 deer from a
415-square-mile area to determine how widespread the disease is. The
only way to test the deer is to kill
them and examine their brains. Some 325 deer have been killed thus
far. Last week, officials formed 10 teams of state sharpshooters
to help landowners kill
the additional 175 deer needed for the study.

The deer collection was ordered after three whitetail bucks
shot last November near Mount Horeb were found to have chronic
wasting disease. The state
announced the test results Feb. 28, and the special shoot began
March 14. It was the first time the disease was found in wild deer
east of the Mississippi River.

Chronic wasting disease attacks the brains of deer and elk,
causing the animals to become emaciated, display abnormal behavior,
lose bodily functions and
die. The deer shooting likely will end by April 10, when spring
turkey hunting begins. The DNR hasn't received results of lab tests
for any of the sampled deer.

- MDHA: tap feeding fund: As reported in last Wednesday's Star
Tribune, the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association is suggesting that
the state tap the $1.4 million
emergency deer feeding account to fund more CWD testing of deer.
(See www.startribune.com/outdoors). That would take special
legislation next session.

While the association still supports the concept of
emergency winter feeding during severe winters, it could change that
position if CWD is found in
Minnesota deer. That is because of the concern that feeding deer
concentrates them in unnatural densities, which wildlife officials
say can help spread disease.

The deer hunters association already has recommended that
those who feed deer recreationally stop the practice. Meanwhile, the
Minnesota DNR intends to
expand it's CWD testing of wild deer this year and officials are
closely watching the Wisconsin situation.

- South Dakota finds no more CWD: South Dakota officials got some
good news last week: Test results on 90 deer recently collected in
southwestern South Dakota
resulted in no additional findings of chronic wasting disease in that area.

The deer were collected for testing in early March after
some of the deer taken by Nebraska Game and Parks personnel in
northwestern Nebraska tested
positive for the disease. The follow-up testing in South Dakota was
done to determine if CWD existed in free-roaming deer herds in
southern Fall River County.

The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks killed
67 mule deer and 23 white-tailed deer, and sent tissue samples to a
testing lab. Meanwhile,
Nebraska Game and Parks personnel collected 56 mule deer and 36
white-tailed deer on their side of the border. Test results on these
deer are not yet available.

South Dakota reported its first case of CWD in a
free-roaming herd last winter; a deer taken by a hunter tested
positive for the disease. The discovery
resulted in another collection effort in mid-March when 24 mule deer
and 28 whitetail deer were taken within a 5-mile radius around the
town of Oral, near
where the positive CWD deer was killed. Test results haven't been received.

So far, a total of 920 deer and 519 elk taken by hunters in
South Dakota since 1997, including 335 deer and 166 elk in 2001, have
been tested for CWD.

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